Bloodstains
by Dragon4
Summary: A post TMR. Just kinda ties up some loose ends left by the movie.


A/N: ok, here it is. My giant work of art.  
Before we start, a few notes. First, these characters ain't mine. Never will be mine. I wish, but...  
If you want to use this, ask. I will be very flattered, so ask me.  
This is for LadyDragonFlyz, who wanted me to finish. And go read her stories, there much better than this. And a thank you to Trowa15, it's her fault I even wrote this. And read hers too.  
*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~*  
  
Finally wrapped in her husband's arms, Evelyn wanted to be nowhere else. She had longed to be there, all through the conclusion of this dreadful ordeal. She had longed for him to be safe; all of them to be save.  
  
And, now they were. At least, the 'they' that mattered. Jonathan and Alex were telling her and Rick to get a room, Ardeth had ridden off into the Sahara Desert, and Rick was right where he should be.  
  
Life was perfect, she told herself. And, unlike the times when she had told herself that exact phrase because she had been ready to blow out her brains, she knew that it was true. She knew what was on the so-called 'other side', and it wasn't perfect. Not without her husband and son.  
  
As if he sensed his wife's morbid turn of thoughts, Rick tightened his arms around her. She leaned her head on his chest, and let the beating of his heart lull her into the first peaceful sleep she had for months.  
  
When they got back to the army base, or whatever the heck it was, Evelyn wanted to waste no time in getting camels to Cairo, and booking a steamer back to London.  
  
Izzy had been reluctant to let them go; still protesting that he thought she was 'his girl'.  
  
Evelyn almost forgot to ask him about the belly dancer that had been with her husband, but she remembered in the nick of time.  
  
She said to Izzy "So, you were going to tell me more about this belly dancer he" and she jerked her head towards Rick, who was cleaning his guns "was with when you were lying on the road with your spleens hanging out?" Evelyn had an uncanny ability to remember details.  
  
But, unfortunately for Evelyn and her uncanny abilities, her husband had heard every word. Turning around, with one of his countless guns pointed strait at Izzy, he said "You say one thing to her, and I'll shoot you in the ass." Rick had been, and always would be, very direct.  
  
Izzy didn't say another to her after that. Not one. Evelyn had to settle with giving her husband a dirty look. He simply gave her his divine lopsided grin. She glowered at him, at least, until her son pulled on her pant leg.   
  
"What is it, Alex?" she asked, tired and not wanting trouble. "Uncle Jonathan is trying to get camels to go to..." She interrupted him "Yes, yes, to Cairo, what about them?" "I think you should go help him."   
"Whatever for? I mean, I'm sure he can buy camels without my help."   
"He's trying to sell you..."   
  
Evelyn stormed off to set her brother strait. And set him strait she did.   
"Jonathan!"   
"Yes Old Mum?"   
"STOP CALLING ME THAT!"   
"Uhh, sorry, Old-umm-Evie?"   
"Are you or aren't you going to sell me to these traders? Tell me the truth, Jonathan."  
  
For once, Jonathan was at a loss for words. He could do nothing but stammer. Evelyn was forced to wrap up the deal, as Jonathan meandered off to somewhere else.   
  
~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~  
  
Later, traveling across the desert, Evelyn finally found some rest for her tightly wound nerves. As she always found when she was in the desert, the vastness of it gave her time to work through her feelings and recent events. This time, however, she chose not to think about them at all.   
  
She had been slightly worried about Alex riding a camel, but he told her that he had ridden one when he had been kidnapped. Rick had expressed his sympathy for the "poor boy" since camels were "the most horrid beasts on the face of this earth". Evelyn had ignored him.  
  
They rode on through the nights, and in three days time, had made it to Cairo. Evelyn did manage to book a steamer, and they wasted no time getting aboard. Unfortunately, since they had booked close to the departing time, they all had to share a room. There was no opportunity to talk to Rick, save scolding him for his little comments.   
  
The trip was, thankfully, uneventful. Evie spent a lot of time with her nose buried in a book. Rick gave her a few odd looks, but she didn't notice them. Alex and Jonathan simply took it for granted that she was reading, not realizing there might be another reason for her absorbed interest in books.  
  
After they had returned to their giant home, sort of unpacked the suitcases that were still lying in the foyer, and buried the bodies that littered the staircase, they sent Jonathan home. Rick took Alex upstairs to put him to bed (as in was about one o'clock in the morning), and made her go to bed as well.  
  
But sleep was no sanctuary for her. Long after the other occupant of her bed was in dreamland, Evelyn gave up tossing and turning, and got up. For lack of anything better to do, she got out a mop and scrub-brush, and set to work on the blood stains and weapons that were scattered all over her house.   
  
~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~  
  
At about five, Evelyn was still working, in a very uncharacteristic, mechanical way. Suddenly, she felt an unfamiliar presence behind her, and she whirled to face it, mop in hand.  
  
It turn out the presence wasn't all that unfamiliar at all, as two strong hands caught the mop to keep it from hitting him.  
"Oh, sorry. Didn't see you." She told him breathlessly.  
"I think I realized that." Rick replied as he looked at her, rather strangely, she thought.  
"What?"  
"How long have you been down here?"  
She realized she didn't know. That was odd. It didn't seem like all that long...  
"Oh, a half an hour maybe?"  
"Really? You could've fooled me..."  
"Oh, you know I couldn't!" She smiled at him, trying to understand why he was staring at her the way he was.  
"You're right. You can't. So please tell me why you've been down here since I went to bed?"  
"I have been?!"  
  
Rick could tell that Evie was surprised. And he also saw that she looked at little crazy in the eyes. He had notice something a little odd about her manner, even back on the balloon. He decided it was time to say something, before she scrubbed herself out.  
  
He forced her to let go of the mop, took her hands, and pulled her into the foyer, where there were no bloodstains.  
  
He took her shoulders with one hand, and her chin with the other. He tilted her face up and forced her eyes to meet his. "Evelyn..." he began, but didn't know how to put what he was trying to say in words.  
"What?" she asked, confused by the pained expression on his face.  
"What's wrong with you?" It was all he could really come up with.  
  
Her chin lifted a considerable amount. "There's nothing wrong with me, thank you very much!" She glared at him indignantly.  
  
"Evie, that's not what I meant, and you know that. I'd like you to tell me why you have been so "snappish" and high strung lately, and why you were cleaning in the hall? For about 4 hours without stopping?" He was having no problem with words now.  
"I...well, I...I don't know, okay?!"  
"No. It's not okay. What the hell is bothering you?" He figured he'd ask, even though he had a pretty good idea of the answer. She hated it when he jumped to conclusions, especially if they were right.   
"I...umm...don't know."  
"Is it just me, or are you saying that an awful lot lately?"  
"I'm sure it's just you."  
"But you don't know, do you?"  
  
Evelyn was getting annoyed. She knew that he was just playing with her, trying to get her to spill. She also figured he had an idea of what was wrong. She tried to pull away, but, as always, he was too strong for her.  
"Let go of me!" she practically screamed.  
  
And to her surprise, he did. Without his support, she tumbled back onto the floor. She crossed her arms, and refused to look at him.  
  
He crouched on the floor next to her. "Did you really want me to do that?" he asked her, as if he were explaining something very important, and she refusing to listen.  
"I..." She caught herself.  
"Don't know." He finished.   
"Well, I don't! Is that a crime?"  
"Never said it was."  
"Then why don't you leave me alone?"  
"You know very well why I'm not leaving you alone."  
And she did. He was worried about her, he knew something was wrong. Having lived with her for around 10 years, he knew when something was wrong. And right now, something was very wrong.   
  
She knew she was treating him badly, but there wasn't a thing she could do about it. She wanted to be left alone, and he should know it. Now the only trick was to convince him that she was mad at him, so he would leave.  
  
"Rick, go away!" she yelled at him "Why won't you leave me alone?" She was very thankful Alex's bedroom was at the back of the house.  
  
Unfortunately, her husband wasn't fooled as easily as his normal appearance let on that he might be.   
  
"Yeah, ok, I'll just go away and leave you lying here on the floor. And then I'll just let you get up and scrub until your hands are worn down to the bone."  
  
Nice going, Evie. You have now got him so that he won't leave you no matter if you tell him you're going out with someone else and going to leave him. Not that she ever would.  
  
She forced herself to look into his eyes, and immediately broke down. There was something in those beautiful blue eyes that made her want to cry. Want to cry REALLY badly.  
  
But she couldn't cry, she didn't want to cry.   
She couldn't let him know what was bothering her.  
But Rick wasn't going to let her get away. He held her eyes with his own, and gently asked her "Are you going to tell me what's wrong?"  
"No."  
"Why not?"  
"Because I don't..."  
"Know."  
"Want to."  
"Oh. Why not?" Rick asked while wordlessly apologizing for interrupting her.  
"Because I don't." But Evelyn said this phrase without any anger, just sadness.  
  
Rick just looked at her. Evelyn suddenly felt terrible. Hadn't they always told each other everything? She threw herself at him, clinging to him as if she were drowning and he was her life preserver.   
  
He was a little surprised, but did nothing, save stroke her curly hair. Eventually, she stopped sobbing with an abrupt hiccup.  
"I'm sorry." She told him softly.  
"Why?" He asked, genuinely confused.   
"I'm so stupid." She replied.  
"You're not stupid, you're being stupid. There's a difference, you know."  
"Yes."  
"So are you going to tell me?"  
"Tell you what?"  
"What's wrong?"  
"Oh, that."  
He looked at her again. She looked into his eyes until she couldn't take his intense stare anymore.  
"Listen, can we wait until tomorrow? It's around five-thirty, and I need to go to work..."  
"That's your own fault, darling."  
"Yes, I suppose."  
  
Rick let her go, and she went upstairs to freshen up for work. She knew it was going to be hell, with the curator missing (she had no idea where he was now, but figured Rick did) and she having run off at about the same time he had, a few people were going to get mad at her. And a few more would put two and two together, and figure she was with him. What would she say?  
  
She would have to figure something out quick, but her nerves were so frazzled she couldn't think of anything. Also, her whole family needed to have the same story. Distraught, she called on the only person who could come up with something believable.  
  
"Let's see..." Rick looked lost in thought. "You left your purse in the middle of the Sahara Desert?"   
"You know very well that I don't have a purse!" Evie was in no mood for this.  
"Ok, ok, and ok. You got called to Egypt suddenly, because of the discovery of the tomb of someone or another. They needed you to read the hieroglyphs."  
"And, pray tell, whose tomb was it?  
"Some unimportant prince?"  
"Thanks, Rick." she said with genuine emotion.   
"No problem."  
She gave him a long hug and kiss, and left for the British Museum in considerably brighter spirits.  
  
~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~  
  
Unfortunately for Evelyn, the people at the museum weren't as tolerant of her little absence as they might have been under other circumstances.   
  
One of the janitors yelled at her "Where the hell have you been, and where the hell is the curator?"  
A tour guide had ran up to her, taken her shoulders, shaken her rather thoroughly, and screamed "What happened? Where were you? Where's he?"  
  
It took Evelyn a considerable amount of time to convince them she had no idea where the curator was, and of Rick's story about a prince. Then they wanted to know what his name was, and she couldn't think of anything. She ended up saying she couldn't find it anywhere.  
  
"Really, I'm not sure! It was scratched out..." She had a sudden reminder of Imhotep. But so as not to break down in front of her collages, she pushed the thought to the back of her mind.  
  
The most important job ahead of her and the entire staff was cleaning up the mess she, Rick, the Curator, Imhotep, & Co. had left. The staff wondered why anyone breaking in had taken all the mummies out of their cases, stolen one, set fire to a bunch of things, destroyed relics but didn't take any, left holes in walls, and dragged a bench halfway in front of the main door.   
  
Evelyn had tried to not look guilty or sheepish, especially about the bench. She didn't tell them that the mummy that was "stolen" actually left on his own, as did the mummies from their cases.  
  
*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~*  
  
Later that afternoon, Evelyn sat behind her small desk in a room that was behind the vast library. They had called a construction company to fix the walls, and restored mummies as best they could. She didn't really help with any of that, she couldn't have handled it, but instead did checks of all the artifacts. As she could have told them even before she started, none had been taken.  
  
As she was trying to organize the supply books, a small voice interrupted her. "Mum?"  
"Yes?" she asked her son, looking up from her tedious and rather boring work.  
"Can I read some books?"  
"I know you can read books, but may you?"  
"Sorry. May I?"  
She smiled at him. "Of course. But you have to come home when I do."  
Alex knew that, even though his mum didn't mean it that way, the usual time was 10 o'clock. He didn't complain.  
"Alright, thanks Mum." He gave her a hug.  
  
"How was school?" she asked his retreating back. He went to an English prep school, with iron discipline and accelerated classes. To make up for the hard work and discipline, Evie and Rick let Alex do pretty much what he liked, and he liked that. Obviously.   
"Disappointing." He replied, sticking his head back through the door.  
"Why?"  
"Dad said I can't tell anyone what happened."  
"Of course you can't!"  
"Why?" he asked plaintively.  
"Because no one would believe you, and they'll think you're a liar. You don't want that, do you?"  
"No." he sighed. It was fairly obvious that Rick had already been through this with him.  
"Well, it's true, sweetheart."  
"I know it is, I just want to tell someone." He smiled at her.  
She smiled back. "Tell your uncle. Or a tree. Or an animal."  
"An animal? A tree?!"  
"I used to talk to trees all the time...and animals listen very well."  
"I'm going to tell Dad you talk to trees!"  
"Go ahead, he didn't know me then."  
"Oh." Alex was disappointed to miss seeing his mom getting teased.   
"Sometimes, if you're really lonely, it helps."  
"Were you really lonely?"   
"When all my friends were on holiday and my Dad and Mum down in Egypt, yes I was. That's why we take you with us, I don't want you to be lonely."  
"Oh." was all he said, but he wrapped his arms around her again.  
"Now scat. I have work to do." she planted a kiss on top of his head, but he didn't leave. There was something he wanted to tell her. She waited.  
"Mum..."  
"Yes, dear?"  
"I'm so glad you're alive."  
  
To the Egyptologist who walked by at that moment, that statement sounded quite odd (as he told Evelyn later "I have never seen any child tell his mother he was glad she was on the face of this earth. To leave it yes, to walk a block away, but happy she was on it? Extraordinary." She really didn't like him.)  
  
But she didn't care about the frikin' Egyptologist, all she cared about at that moment was her son. As her eyes filled with tears for the millionth time that day, she told him "I'm so glad you're alive too."  
(The Egyptologist had commented on that also.)  
  
But she was. How could she have lived if that damn bracelet had squeezed out his life? Just as she praised God (or the Gods or whoever) that Anck-su-namun had stabbed her, and not her husband.  
  
~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~  
  
Predictably, Evie made her son go home at seven, but stayed until eight-thirty, when her husband came in and forced her to leave.  
"Museum closes at five." he told her, as if she didn't already know. "Tours are over, library's closed. And all the good people of the world are at home eating dinner."  
"Oh, and I'm not a good person?"  
"If you leave you are. If you don't, you aren't. So be good."  
"Oh, yes, I'm just an angel." she told him, attempting to somewhat clean her desk, and giving up.  
He didn't answer or look at her. Her statement seemed to bother him; his mind seemed to be far away.  
"Rick? You ok?"  
"Yeah. Course." he snapped out of it, and grabbed her hand.   
  
He dragged her towards the door.  
"It's only twelve hours." He told her in mock comfort.  
This time she was the one who didn't answer, and for a totally different reason.   
  
After dinner, Alex challenged his father to checkers, the winner having to play against Evie. Oddly enough, Rick won.  
  
Rick beat her too, but only because he kept distracting her. It was the only way he could win, because she was too good at the game for him to win outright. Alex egged each of them on, and they all had a good time.  
  
Later that night, Evelyn actually went to bed. She wanted to talk to Rick.  
"I've decided to tell you what's wrong." She said rather shyly, as she was still embarrassed about her behavior the night before.  
"Good." He answered, pulling her into the warm and welcoming circle of his arms.  
"But only if you tell me."  
"Tell you what?"  
"What's bothering you."  
"Oh. I should think it was fairly obvious."  
" 'Obviously' not."  
"Well...umm..."  
  
He looked uncomfortable. Then he touched her stomach, tracing a line down from her belly-button, about the width of a dagger blade.  
"I just...I'm so glad you're alive," he said, unconsciously echoing her son's earlier words.  
"I thought I might have lost you forever, baby."  
"Oh, Rick! You didn't!"  
"I think I realize that." He pulled her as close as she could come and kissed her rather thoroughly.  
"I couldn't live without you, and I don't want to try." He explained. She put her finger on his lips, wordlessly telling him she understood. But there was something else she wanted to ask him...  
"Rick, why didn't you answer me at the museum?"  
"Why didn't I answer you when?"  
"When I said I was just an angel?"  
He looked her strait in the eye and said, "Why do you think?"  
  
And suddenly the puzzle pieces clicked into place. He didn't want to think of her as an angel, because that would mean she was dead. She felt terrible, for not realizing that, and for dying on him. For the second time that week, she broke down in tears.  
  
Rick knew it was rare for Evie to cry, and twice in two days! He let her cry (again), not asking exactly what she was crying about.  
  
Evelyn sniffed and sat up, feeling rather ashamed. She didn't like feeling helpless; rather, she wanted to be able to take care of herself and her family. But in a little corner in the back of her mind, she knew Rick understood.  
"Alright now?" he asked, concern showing through on his dear, dear face.  
"No, yes, maybe."  
"I don't think that answer was what I had in mind, do you?" he asked, knowing very well what her answer would be.  
  
She frowned at him. "No, of course not. You want me to," she put on a scholarly but birdlike face, "tell you everything so you can help me. Because I can't help myself." The face disappeared as Evelyn collapsed into laughter, at the thought of her husband every being "scholarly".   
  
Rick laughed too, but then he decided to tickle her. About 3 minutes later, when she couldn't take it anymore, he stopped (but only because she had begged him).   
  
She pulled him down and snuggled up against his chest. "Alright," she began, "You know when you were hanging off the cliff?"  
Rick instantly knew that this was important, so he didn't make any wisecracks. "Yes, I do."  
Her shoulders drooped, and she said simply "I feel so guilty."  
"Why? What for?" she was confusing him even more than she already had.  
"Well, I saved you..." she was hesitating, "...and she didn't save him."  
"So what? Why should you feel guilty about her? He deserved what he got!"  
"But did he?" she asked him, bristling, all ready to defend her point of view. "He did what he did for love! For her! And she just ran away!"  
"Whoa, hold on. Wait just a minute. You feel sorry for the bastard?" Rick couldn't believe what he was hearing.  
"Well, yes." She looked down, ashamed. "I was thinking..."  
"You seem to do that a lot." He tried to give her a way out, a way to tell her if she wanted to, she could just drop the subject.  
  
She refused. "I thought, if it were me hanging on that cliff, and you ran away, how would I feel?"  
Rick suddenly saw things in a whole different light (as happened quite frequently when he had these types of conversations with his wife). If Evie had ran away, he would have been happy. She would be safe. It would be the one time in her life she obeyed him, no questions asked. But if he had asked for her help...  
"Ouch." Was all Rick could think of to say that would express his feelings.  
"Yes. Ouch." She replied. "Very much an ouch."  
  
Rick pulled Evelyn into his arms, marveling again that a.) the fact he had her, and b.) the fact she was alive. It had been almost too much to hope for, to be with her again, but alive and together! It was wonderful.  
  
She sighed, and stirred against him. Evelyn traced his jaw line with one finger. "I don't know why she didn't save him, I mean, if she loved him..."  
"Well, maybe she was just scared, and loved herself more than he loved him..."  
  
"No! If he loved her that much, why shouldn't she? It doesn't check out...but why would she leave? If you really love someone, you don't care about yourself..."  
  
Rick instantly knew Evie was talking about herself, and her love for him. He said quietly, "I know, darling. I know."  
  
This time she didn't cry, she only buried her face in his shoulder and sighed. He held her as tight as he could, because he knew exactly what she was saying. How couldn't he? He felt the same way for her.  
  
"Well," Rick finally broke the silence, "I think he deserved it. They murdered the Pharaoh, and the Pharaoh is supposed to be descended from the gods. And if you really were Seti's daughter, they wronged you too. Back in Hamunaptra, and by killing you in Am Shere. Maybe it was the gods' way of punishing them both. I doubt she got out of there alive, and I know he didn't."  
  
Evelyn stared at Rick. He continually amazed her, seeing things she never could quite grasp. Understanding things she never would. Not ever questioning the impending Armageddons thrown in their path; just finding out what needed to be done, and doing it. She loved him even more (if it were humanly possible) when he did things like this. Whenever he saved her. Whenever he...It didn't matter when, she decided, she loved him more than she ever thought she was capable of. It scared her sometimes, how much she loved Rick and Alex.  
  
She gave him a long kiss to tell him just what she thought of him. He kissed her back in the exact same way. After breaking it (they needed air), she suddenly thought of something else.  
  
"And their love was forbidden, wasn't it? Ours isn't, so they don't need to punish us. But theirs was absolutely and totally forbidden, as she was supposed to be the Pharaoh's. And if the Pharaoh really was a god, like you said, he might want to punish them more. Maybe?"  
  
"Most likely." He replied. "Anyway, that all fits together. At least, until we get to her running away. But I don't think we'll ever be able to explain that. So stop beating yourself up over it. You didn't have anything to do with it, it wasn't your fault. I'm not saying you did the right thing," and he kissed her, to let her know he was only kidding. "but you didn't do anything wrong. And the fucking bastard deserved it."  
  
Evelyn loved how Rick could always see what was wrong. He wasn't really a man of many words, so the ones he tossed around were not just useless phrases. He didn't talk for the sake of talking, like she sometimes did. Most of the words that passed over his tongue were things to consider, things to remember.  
  
"So, you never answered my question. Do you want to know what heaven looks like?"  
"But I already know." He told her. She looked at him, surprised. "Your face."  
  
Tears filled her eyes, even as she smiled. She pushed him down on the bed, suddenly filled with an overpowering want, no, need for him. He didn't object, and she sensed he needed her too.  
  
*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~*~**~*  
  
Evelyn wrapped a robe around her naked form and walked down through the hallway, and into the kitchen. The purpose of her visit was simple, she was thirsty.  
  
Now, as she traveled down the length of the hallway, the bloodstains didn't bother her. Rick had convinced her that they were not her fault, and they weren't. She had just been being stubborn, refusing to see what was right in front of her nose.  
  
As she stood at the counter with a glass in hand, her brain took her back to eons before...  
  
~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~  
  
Nefertiti was getting sick of the suitor that paraded her father's palace, looking for her hand in marriage. They didn't care about her, only her title. And she didn't like any of them either. They were self centered, pompous idiots. She tried to send them away without offending them, but that didn't always work. Her father was getting angry with her (because of her constant refusals) and was taking her to see a fortune-teller.  
  
This fortune-teller was famous for being able to predict the future with stunning clarity. She was an old, wrinkled woman, but her blue eyes looked as if she weren't a day over five.  
  
Nefertiti glowered at the guard her father insisted accompany her (he was too "busy" to come himself...he always was busy when it came to her.) The fortune-teller sat her down, and looked strait into her clear brown eyes. "Tell me what the problem is, my child."  
  
Nefertiti refused to answer, since none of this was her idea anyway. The guard answered "Her father, Pharaoh Seti, would like you to find her soul mate. She is being shall we say, "difficult" with her suitors?"  
"Ahh..." the woman said, and took Nefertiti's hand. She traced the lines on the princess's palm, and slowly turned Nefertiti's hand over to look at the back.  
  
The woman stared strait into the princess's eyes, brown locking with blue. She said "I see a man...he is tall, strong and handsome. His destiny is to love, cherish and protect you."  
  
Nefertiti didn't answer. She was going through all her suitors in her mind...and not a one fit that description. As if the woman sensed her thoughts, she told the uneasy princess "Oh, you do not know this man! And you shall not know him for thousands of years to come. He is your reward for serving the Gods, as you do in this lifetime, and shall do in your next. And your love is his reward for serving you."  
  
The princess was stunned. A love that was foretold, a love known thousands of years before it would ever come to be...that better be worth waiting for.  
  
"Tell her father not to make her marry. Everything shall come to past as it is foretold by the stars. Don't upset their balance. There might be frightening consequences."   
  
~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~**~*~  
  
Standing at the counter, Evelyn smiled. Yes, it had been worth waiting for. Most definitely.  
  
She walked slowly up the stairs, eager to get back to him, but not wanting to wake him or Alex. And the bloodstains didn't bother her.  



End file.
